Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Congress General Secretary Sajjan Singh Verma on Thursday slammed the party's Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari for raising questions about the process for electing the party's president. Verma called Tewari a 'disloyal person' and accused him of destroying his own party.
Verma questioned the timing of the questions at a time when the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi's mother has passed away. He slammed Tewari saying that instead of expressing condolences and support to the top leader of the party, 'he is raising questions on her.'
"These kind of activities are not generating unity within the party but giving an opportunity to the BJP to attack the Congress. If one wants to contest elections for the posts in the party, one should collect an electoral form from the state or national party headwaters, why should one make such comments. This shows that Tewari wants only a post in the party and nothing else," Verma said while talking to IANS on Thursday.
Verma said that Tewari benefitted from the Congress his entire life. "There is no problem in raising questions. But putting it out in the open on social media and at a time when Sonia Gandhi lost her mother. Instead of expressing condolences, he is questioning her," he added.
Verma made these remarks a day after Tewari in a series of tweets on Wednesday raised issues regarding the election process in the Congress days after the party announced the schedule for the election of the party president.
On Wednesday, Tewari raised questions through a series of tweets asking "How can there be a fair and free election without a publicly available electoral roll? Essence of a fair and free process is names & addresses of electors which must be published on INCIndia website in a transparent manner."
"Why should someone have to go to every PCC office in the country to find out who the electors are? This does not happen in a club election also. In the interests of fairness and transparency, I urge your goodself to publish the entire list of electors on Congress website. How can someone consider running if he/she does not know who the electors are. If someone has to file his/her nomination and get it proposed by 10 Congress persons as is required, CEA can reject it saying they are not valid electors," Tewari said.